- Target:
- Devoted to Abolishing Capital Punishment
- Region:
- United States of America
Thank you for signing but I prefer to close as I am moving out of the country thanks
We all recognize that society has the right and moral duty to protect the public good. If the death penalty truly protected us, then it could be justified. But, the fact of the matter is that it has been a gross failure. It has neither protected the innocent nor deterred the guilty. Indeed, it has cheapened human life and dignity.
Even if we can be certain that an individual subject to the death penalty is guilty to a moral certainty, as the late Governor of California, Edmund G. Brown, who had extensive experience with its implementation, in conducting prosecutions as California Attorney General, and in dispensing clemency as Governor, said “it is invoked too randomly, too irregularly, too unpredictably and too tardily to be defended as an effective example warning away wrongdoers.”
In the countries and states in which the death penalty has been abolished there has been no increase in the homicide rate, and, indeed, in comparison to some other states they seem somewhat lower. In point of fact, studies show that almost half of those executed had never suffered a prior felony conviction. I find myself in total agreement with Governor Brown: Not a single execution has ever halted the sale of a single gun or restrained a moment’s blind range.
Quite aside from the lack of deterrence value, there always looms the ugly possibility that innocent individuals may be condemned to death. No error made by a government can compare with the horror of executing an innocent person. This is no idle fear. Professor Scheck and his Innocence Project, and his invocation of DNA evidence in capital cases has shown that this has happened despite the good faith of our courts and juries.
In their classic study, Michael L. Radelet, Hugo Adam Bedau, and Constance E. Putnam recount in alarming detail the mistaken identities, perjured witnesses, overzealous prosecutions, and negligent police work that led to more than 400 people being erroneously convicted or capital or potentially capital crimes in this country between 1900 and 1991, before DNA testing became available.
We may have the best criminal justice system in the world, but there is no way to rectify a mistake once an individual is executed. A habeas corpus petition cannot be submitted from a grave. In short, there is no remedy and no way to eliminate the risk of error in our system except to abolish the death penalty.
As an American citizen and fellow human being, I call upon the Legislatures of each of our states to abolish capital punishment. There are powerful and compelling reasons for doing so.
We all recognize that society has the right and moral duty to protect the public good. If the death penalty truly protected us, then it could be justified. But, the fact of the matter is that it has been a gross failure. It has neither protected the innocent nor deterred the guilty. Indeed, it has cheapened human life and dignity.
Even if we can be certain that an individual subject to the death penalty is guilty to a moral certainty, as the late Governor of California, Edmund G. Brown, who had extensive experience with its implementation, in conducting prosecutions as California Attorney General, and in dispensing clemency as Governor, said “it is invoked too randomly, too irregularly, too unpredictably and too tardily to be defended as an effective example warning away wrongdoers.”
In the countries and states in which the death penalty has been abolished there has been no increase in the homicide rate, and, indeed, in comparison to some other states they seem somewhat lower. In point of fact, studies show that almost half of those executed had never suffered a prior felony conviction. I find myself in total agreement with Governor Brown: Not a single execution has ever halted the sale of a single gun or restrained a moment’s blind range.
Quite aside from the lack of deterrence value, there always looms the ugly possibility that innocent individuals may be condemned to death. No error made by a government can compare with the horror of executing an innocent person. This is no idle fear. Professor Scheck and his Innocence Project, and his invocation of DNA evidence in capital cases has shown that this has happened despite the good faith of our courts and juries.
In their classic study, Michael L. Radelet, Hugo Adam Bedau, and Constance E. Putnam recount in alarming detail the mistaken identities, perjured witnesses, overzealous prosecutions, and negligent police work that led to more than 400 people being erroneously convicted or capital or potentially capital crimes in this country between 1900 and 1991, before DNA testing became available.
We may have the best criminal justice system in the world, but there is no way to rectify a mistake once an individual is executed. A habeas corpus petition cannot be submitted from a grave. In short, there is no remedy and no way to eliminate the risk of error in our system except to abolish the death penalty.
LETS DO AWAY WITH THE DEATH PENALTY IT'S CRUEL INHUMANE BARBARIC AND MEDIEVAL !!!
Prosecutorial Misconduct and Wrongful Convictions
Prosecutorial misconduct is a leading cause of wrongful conviction, and a new Innocence Project report released today provides evidence that appeals courts in the U.S. do not effectively identify and overturn these injustices. Thousands upon thousands of innocent people were put to Death, only to find out larer that they were innocent !!! This must be stopped !!!
We found that 65 of the first 255 people that were given the Death Penalty were innocent !! This raised allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in their appeals or in civil suits filed after exoneration. In about half of those cases, courts found either error or misconduct by prosecutors, but judges only found “harmful error” enough to overturn a conviction – in 17 cases.
The rate of harmful error findings (18%) in wrongful conviction cases is nearly identical to the rate found in a much broader universe of cases examined in a 2003 study by the Center for Public Integrity. These cases weren’t innocence cases (meaning they hadn’t been overturned based on evidence of innocence), but the courts found harmful error by prosecutors in 17.6% of cases.
Based on this result, the report finds that “innocent persons raising claims of misconduct on appeal are not much more likely to find relief than presumed guilty persons raising similar claims—a suggestion that raises questions about the ability of the appellate process to correct wrongful convictions.”
It doesn't matter whether it's the lethal injection, gas chamber, hanging, or firing Squad. It's all CRUEL INHUMANE BARBARIC AND MEDIEVAL !!! And most of all it doesn't say much for this Country, does it ! Are we a bunch of animals that have gone MAD ?? It's 2010 lets STOP THIS MADNESS ALREADY Please !! We the people, the tax paying Citizens want the "DEATH PENALTY REPEALED !!!
This is How is it carried out with the Firing Squad. It's a bunch of Gun Crazed Cowards that all Aim point and shoot a man that's tied up and Bound with a Target on his chest !! Very nice huh ?? How can these men even live with themselves after doing that ?? They must be subhuman !!
....A hood will be put over the condemned man's head and a target will be pinned over his heart. The executioners will fire simultaneously from gun portals in a separate room at the inmate, seated in a chair about 30 feet away. One of the five rifles will contain a blank so that no one will know who fired the fatal shots.
How it started:
Utah's use of firing squads predates statehood in 1896 and is a remnant of the early Mormon belief that bloodshed is a required punishment for taking a life, said Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
We as a group of Thousands of tax paying Citizens ask and beg you to finally put a Stop to the "DEATH PENALITY"
As the Bible quotes :
Exodus 20: 1-17 -TheExodus 20: 1-17 -The Ten Commandments- 6. You shall not murder.
You shall not murder.
When Jesus said, "Do not judge, and you will not be judged," Who are you to take a life ? You are not God !
Please do not give Troy Kell the death Penalty. We as caring compassionate Tax Paying Citizens of the United States ask you to let Troy live. As Troy can be a very valuable person that has the capacity and capability to help thousands of people. Troy can reach the lives of young men and Juveniles that are headed for the road of destruction. Troy Kell is a very caring person that made a mistake as a child, and paid for it already. Please give him a chance to help make our World a Better Place !
Thank You,
The People of the US Against the Death Penalty
The PLEASE HELP AN INNOCENT MAN ON DEATH ROW IN UTAH petition to Devoted to Abolishing Capital Punishment was written by loyd benifold and is in the category Human Rights at GoPetition.